Two local fishers won one of the flagship fishing tournaments in this province.
Spencer Kozun of Nipawin and Wade Maynard of Carrot River won the Premier’s Walleye Cup on Tobin Lake with a total of 42.30 pounds of walleye. They also won Day 1 and the bonus round, taking home almost $50,000 in total – $35,000 of that included with the cup.
“[It was] hard to believe that we actually did it,” said Kozun about his thoughts as he held the cup at the award ceremony Aug. 12.
“Everything came together,” added Maynard.
The 30th annual tournament took place over two days, Aug. 11 and 12, with a boat parade going down Nipawin’s Main Street starting it all off Aug. 10.
The two winning fishers were sponsored by Twin Marine.
“We had a game plan coming into it. Luckily it worked,” Kozun said. “We just had our spots picked up and we executed.”
“We had three or four spots picked out and we had to find where the fish were,” Maynard said. “They’ve got fins; they’ll move. Sometimes you’ve got to look.”
Maynard is getting back into fishing tournaments after a 10-year break.
“I’m just getting back into it. I work with Spencer, he asked me to fish with him, said I’d love to.”
For Kozun, it was his second year competing in the cup.
“I fish around here all of the time and I finally got in last year. Figured it out this year.”
This tournament was the first time the two competed together.
Both fishers believe that being locals helped give them the edge.
“We just knew some of the spots,” Kozun said.
Maynard said the extra time on Tobin Lake that out-of-towners don’t get helped.
“You try something that works one day, it doesn’t work tomorrow, so you think back to last week – this worked – and you try it and that might be the ticket that day.”
Both fishers said they were pleased with how this year’s tournament was run.
